Florilegia and Flora

A Florilegium is a collection of flower illustrations. The word is Latin and the plural is Florilegia.

A Flora is a botanical record of the plants associated with a specific place - country, region or habitatThis is very often illustrated. Floras are being produced today and will continue to be produced into the future.

This is a big topic and this page will grow over time as more information about different Florilegia is added. Suggestions for additions and associated material online is most welcome.

Florilegia and Flora​

Florilegia and Flora which are completed projects have been separated into three categories for:

GARDENS​Records of a Garden​

Hortus Eystettensisof Basilius Besler (see the image in the header)

The Flower Book of Alexander Marshall​The Highgrove Florilegium for the Prince of Wales

These are typically projects initiated by Botanical Art Societies and can typically be found around the world in Botanical Gardens and other horticultural spaces. Plus other specific projects initiated by individuals (e.g. the Prince of Wales is associated with a second Florilegium project - this one in Europe).

The link (in the title) goes to the webpage which provides details about the various Florilegium Groups and Societies.

The words 'Florilegium' and 'Flora'​

Use of the term 'Florilegium'

The term florilegium is thought to have been first employed by Adriaen Collaert (1560-1618) in his work simply entitled ‘Florilegium’ published in 1590.

​Historically and contemporaneously, the word 'florilegium' relates to a collection of illustrations recording plants in a specific garden. Florilegia have been and are most often commissioned to record the plants belonging to a wealthy person or a botanic garden

The term has also also used to describe the collections of drawings and paintings of:

Either plants found in a known geographical area. (The botanical equivalent of this is the Flora- with a capital F)

Or recording the plants found on voyages of discovery - which might cover several different countries and ecosystems

In terms of scientific prestige, writing Flora accounts, although challenging and laborious, scores very low. Floras are not rated as peer-reviewed scientific journal publications, so do not figure on any science citation index. Yet Floras are fundamental to identifying plant species in the areas that they cover. Unlike briefly sensational scientific papers that can be superseded in days or months, Floras remain in daily use for decades. They are the final word in resolving long-running uncertainties and disputes as to which plant name belongs to which plant species​Martin Cheek, botanist at Kew

Hortus Eystettensis of Basilius Besler ​

The name Hortus Eystettensis means "The Garden of Eichstätt" in Latin. This florilegium contains 367 engraved plates depicting more than 100 flowers and provided a catalogue of the rare specimens growing in the spectacular gardens created in Bavaria by Prince-Bishop Johann Konrad von Gemmingen of Eichstätt.

In 1611, the Prince Bishop of Eichsttt in Germany was already terminally ill when he determined to record for posterity the spectacular garden he'd created at his palace in Bavaria with plants from around the world. Hundreds of his favourite flower

One of the unique features of the book is that the plants are presented according to the seasons.

The first print run was 300 copies which all sold within 4 years.​REFERENCE:

Hortus Nitidissimis

The Hortus Nitidissimis was a collaboration between the artist Georg Dionysius Ehret and the learned doctor and amateur horticulturalist Christoph Jacob Trew. Originally published somewhat erratically between 1750 and 1786 as a periodical - with gaps between images and associated text. It was intended, when collected, to form a superlative collection of botanical prints

However it is rarely found complete. A project between the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and the Natural History Museum, with funding by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, created a compilation of this book.

The Flower Book of Alexander Marshal​

Alexander Marshal (b? 1620 - d.1682) spent 30 years developing a book of flowers (a florilegium). He created 159 folios recording plants growing in English gardens and captured, for example, plants growing in orangeries. It was the first book to be created for personal enjoyment and private study.

​It's particularly important now as it's the only surviving book about flowers from the seventeenth century. Interestingly it's also a record of Marshal's experiments with the extraction of pigments to create paints.

He 'painted for his amusement', maintained two gardens and knew the Tradescants and other great gardeners. The inclusion of insects in his paintings also indicates his other great interest as an entomologist.

He had earlier completed a florilegium of the plants in Tradescant's Garden in Lambeth which is now lost. It's thought that some of the watercolours at the end of Marshal's Flower Book may indicate some of the work that Marshal did in relation to Tradescant's Garden.

The 159 folios portray some 600 native and exotic plants growing in England at the time. They are arranged according to season.

REFERENCE

The Florilegium of Alexander Marshal - Marshal’s florilegium was presented to George IV in the 1820s and the link is to a microsite about his work created by the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle.

This is the only known example of a flower book painted by an English artist in the seventeenth century.

The collection of Natural History Drawings kept at Windsor Castle includes the Florilegium of Alexander Marshal presented to King George IV. ​​

This book is a work of scholarship and is the principal source of reference for information about Alexander Marshall.

The gardens it relates to are those of Alexander Marshal and those he worked in as a 'florist' (flower-grower).

​This book provides:

an illustrated catalogue of the book

a history of how it came about - which provides a fascinating account 17th century gardens

full-page colour plates of the 159 folios of watercolour paintings of more than 600 plants and wildlife

narrative identifying the plants in each folio

detailed commentary on specific plants in relation to names or origins

A smaller 'sampler' version of this book was published to coincide with the exhibition Amazing Rare Things: The Art of Natural History in the Age of Discovery at The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace in 2008.

Catalogue for the Highgrove Florilegium Exhibition at the Garden Museum (summer 2009)

PLACES: The Flora and Florilegium of Specific Places​

The Florilegia developed in relation to geographical areas arise from two distinct sets of activities:

ECOLOGYand Flora - projects to document the plant life found in specific geographical areas to get a better understanding of the botany and ecology systems relating to a very specific geographic area. Boundaries of such areas may be biased towards ecosystems or might relate to political divisions (e.g. country or state).

EXPLORATION and Florilegium - the documentation of the plants found as a result of journeys of discovery (eg Banks Florilegium) - that typically occurred in the past. These collections typically covered a number of countries, various climates and ecosystems for plant life.

ECOLOGY: The Flora and Florilegium of Known Places​

These florilegia are associated with places well known for hundreds or thousands of years and typically did not involve long voyages of discovery even if the projects themselves involved travel and took a long time to complete. The focus was on mapping the plant life endemic to a specific place.

In some cases, the projects are based much closer to home in terms of where botanical artists and illustrators were based eg London!

The Codex Liechtenstein (Liber Regni Vegetabilis )​

The fourteen volume Liber Regni Vegetabilis (Book of the Plant Kingdom) - the Codex Lichenstein - was created in the 18th century over a period of some 30 years by a team of specialist botanical artists.

It contains detailed natural history illustrations containing 2,748 plates of some 3,100 different plant species from all over the world. These were

the native plants of Lower Austria and Moravia

plus the plants which were cultivated in both the field and the garden.

plus plants from the greenhouses of Vienna and surrounding region.

Franz and Ferdinand Bauer were involved at a very early stage in their career and produced more than half the paintings in the Codex. The book demonstrates how the Bauer brothers used codes to specify the colours to illustrate the plants, and with what refinement they produced their watercolour paintings.

Flora Londinensis​

Flora Londinensis, or, Plates and descriptions of such plants as grow wild in the environs of London : with their places of growth, and times of flowering, their several names according to Linnæus and other authors : with a particular description of each plant in Latin and English : to which are added, their several uses in medicine, agriculture, rural œconomy and other arts

Flora Graeca​

"the most costly and most magnificent flora ever produced"“Oxford Chronicle” (Oct. 12, 1917)

Book: The Flora Graeca relates to flowering plants in Greece. It first appeared in a series of volumes published between 1806 and 1840.

Author: John Sibthorp(the third Sherardian Professor of Botany at Oxford University) The project was produced and published posthumously after his early death at the age of 38. His estate helped to fund the publication of the Flora Graeca.​Illustrations: 966 plates - based on 996 watercolours by Ferdinand Bauer. He produced the watercolours in Oxford and each took about a day and a half to produce. The engraving of Bauer's watercolours was undertaken by James Sowerby.

This work 'Thapsia garganica' is signed F. Bauer. It's presumably been developed from the drawings made for John Sibthorp's Flora Graeca.

The book records a survey of plants found in the Levant - Greece and the eastern Mediterranean in the late nineteenth century.

The aim was to identify all 700 flora that were first described by Dioscorides in the sixth century. The idea was to regain the knowledge of the benefit of plants

The survey was conducted during between March 1786 and December 1787. Sibthorp was responsible for collecting specimens and then providing a written description. Bauer drew the plants - including colour-coded sketches - and then dried the specimens so they could be brought home and added to a herbarium. ​

Plate of 'Convolvulus althaeoides' (1806) by Ferdinand Bauer. From the "Flora Graeca"

Only 25 copies of the first volume were produced. To buy a volume when it was first published cost around £250 at a time when the average wage per year was £39.​It was so expensive that even John Lindley, Assistant Secretary of Horticultural Society and the book’s final editor was unable to afford to buy a copy!

The Bodleian Library in Oxford has all the original watercolours produced by Bauer and the associated documentation and material about the survey. ​

A video introduction to Flora Graeca by Dr Stephen Harris, Druce Curator of the Oxford University Herbaria.

The Magnificent Flora Graeca: ​How the Mediterranean Came to the English Gardenby Stephen Harris (Author)

This is the accessible version of an Oxford University Book by Professor Walter Lack (see below) which retails for a lot of money.

​This one is slimmer, less academic and costs a lot less!

It highlights how the plates are mirror images of the watercolours. ​

Professor Lack's review of the book for the International Association for Plant Taxonomy notes a few mistakes but generally applauds how the major problem with the first publication (i.e. its cost) has been addressed.

This book gives the Flora Graeca the full scholarly treatment - however it is extremely expensive!

Table of ContentsIntroductionComplexities of discoveryPhysicians and apothecariansLevant lunaticsExpeditionsLinnaean revolutionsSibthorp - the early yearsBauer - the early yearsHawkins - the early yearsSibthorp - the first journeyHawkins's first journeySibthorp - the years betweenBauer's work for Sibthorp and HawkinsHawkins - the years betweenHawkins's second journeySibthorp's second journeySibthorp - the final monthsThe collections, drawings and notesHawkins - home the sailorThe publication of the resultsEpilogueReferencesAppendices

The project is run under the aegis of the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts, founded by HRH The Prince of Wales and is led by Helen Allen. It started in 2012 and aims to cover all seasons over the course of five years.

Artists are invited to take part in the project. They visit as a small group and have two weeks to record the material they need to produce three paintings two from the meadows surrounding Viscri and a third from Zalanpatak. Participating artists to date have included:

EXPLORATION - The Florilegium of Voyages of Discovery​

Some of the most famous examples of Florilegia are associated with major voyages of discovery by Captain Cook and others.

Banks' Florilegium

This florilegium records and portrays the plants collected by Joseph Banks and drawn and painted by Sydney Parkinson on their voyage around the world with Captain James Cook.

Plants were collected in Madeira, Brazil, Tierra del Fuego, the Society Islands, New Zealand, Australia and Java. Banks and his team collected 30,300 specimens of plants representing 3607 species. Of these at the time of the voyage, some 1400 were unknown.

Parkinson died on the voyage.

Banks' Florilegium was subsequently produced by a team of artists working for Daniel Solander and from Parkinson's drawings and paintings made on the voyage - plus plant material brought back to the UK.

It took 5 artists to produce 743 completed watercolours from Parkinson's drawings, studies and annotations as to colour. 18 engravers were then hired to produce copperplate line engravings of the paintings.

Banks left the plates to the British Museum who has in turn deposited them with the Natural History Museum.

However the Florilegium was not actually printed until the late 20th century! The British Museum entered into a partnership with Alecto Historical Editions and in the 80s the first complete colour edition was produced - in 34 parts and 100 sets. You can now see the plates online - see links to Editions Alecto below

REFERENCE:

Wikipedia - Banks' Florilegium - 1770-1990Banks' Florilegium is a collection of copperplate engravings of plants collected by Sir Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander while they accompanied Captain James Cook on his voyage around the world between 1768 and 1771.

Their mission was to map the coastline of the land mass yet to be named Australia and to study the plant and animal life they found there. It was called New Holland at the time of the trip.

The ship was fitted out so that it was suitable for a scientific investigation and the recording of plants and preservation of plant material. Guidance on this was provided by Sir Jospeh Banks who was also influential in stimulating the trip.

The Investigator returned to England in 1805 carrying Brown and Bauer and their collections of thousands of specimens and hundreds of sketches. In fact they had 11 boxes of 1,542 drawings of Australian plants, 180 plants of the Norfolk Islands and over 300 animals.

Bauer had been unable to complete any paintings because of problems with paper becoming covered with spots of mold due to the general state of what was a leaky ship.

Two publications resulted from the trip and were undertaken by the Brown and Bauer working on their own.

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